Basilica Collegiata

We spent the rest of the day exploring the streets and I have to admit Catania is not a very clean or inviting city once you leave the main streets. There is so much graffiti and rubbish around, lots of scaffolding, dirty buildings, it certainly isn’t on my list for places to revisit.

We did, however, pass some beautiful buildings. As a result of the 1693 earthquake, a lot of Catania was rebuilt in the splendid Baroque style of architecture with many of the buildings built of grey lava stone. One of the beautiful churches we saw was the Basilica S. Maria dell’Elemosina, also known as Basilica della Collegiata. It was completed in 1768 and is a wonderful example of Sicilian Baroque.

The other church that stood out was the Church of San Francesco D’Assisi. Surrounded by a marble balustrade with statues of St. Joseph, St. Agata and St. Chiara of Assisi, it is an impressive building with an imposing statue of Cardinal Giuseppe Dusmet on an island of greenery in front of it.

Probably the oddest thing we saw today was a ceramic figure of Spiderman attached to the outside of a beautiful Baroque building. So out of place it makes you wonder who on earth thought to put that there.

After exploring some of the streets of Catania, we returned to “our” café, Café Prestipino for some afternoon beverages and snacks, which turned into dinner. This is the part I am enjoying about Catania. Because we are here for four days due to our change of plans, we don’t have to rush to see everything and can really enjoy some down time.Read more